I'm treading water here - trying to keep myself afloat with everything on my plate! I need to learn to say no! Anyone else have this problem? It's the bane of my existence! But saying yes usually means I get to do something fun...however, saying yes to several things in one day means aches and pains followed by the drug-dujour - so I guess it's not all bad! Here's a little of what's been going on for the last WEEK:
Seven glorious days with Baby Max! It doesn't get any better than that. He just lights me up. I also got to spend time with The Girl, my parents and my sisters and brother and their tribes...fun, fun, fun...but Max, oh Max, he's just so wonderful - as in WONDERFUL - I miss him terribly!!
Came home in time to organize desserts for the Play for Pink Tournament which raises money for breast cancer research. Aren't they beautiful? I made two Raspberry Custards - which look pitiful next to the trifles, German chocolate cake, chocolate fudge cake and chocolate-raspberry brownies!!! Thanks so much to my friends (Wendy, Janice, Megan, Debbie, Becky, Nancy, Marcia) who made these wonderful desserts allowing for more money to be donated to research!! I've had several friends who have had breast cancer and one who was recently diagnosed (everyone keep Lorelle in their prayers!) and I've had two lumpectomies, both times worried sick waiting for the results but fortunately they were benign. One in eight women will get breast cancer - isn't that shocking?!? Why, oh why can't they find a cure?!? Dawn has pulled miracles out of her golf bag for 5 years - putting together the golf tournament, luncheon and auction with all proceeds going to research, each year raising more money than the last. Every year our quilt group makes a quilt that is donated and auctioned off to help raise money for her and this year was no exception...Dawn worked miracles again and managed to raise over $35,000 in one day in a stinkin' horrid economy!! Can I get a round of applause for Dawn?! How about a few hallelujahs?? It's people like Dawn that will eventually find the cure - it takes a lot of "Dawns" to beat the drums to raise awareness and money. Now be good little girls and go and get your mammograms. Flat breasts are all the rage - they're the new black!
Pillowcases for Patriots. That's what we called our sew day to make pillowcases on September 11th, a day of service and remembrance. A group of us got together to sew pillowcases that will be donated to the facility where families of soldiers and Marines stay while they are receiving medical treatment at Madigan Army Hospital. It was definitely a win/win kind of day - they need the pillowcases and we all had a great time followed by a good feeling - nothing beats that! We had about 25 people work on this - not all are pictured - and only about EIGHT people sewing at any given time...and we managed to make 125 pillowcases!!! ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE PILLOWCASES!! In 3 hours! Herculean effort to be sure! All of the fabric was donated - and you will never find any cuter pillowcases on the planet than the ones we made! Thanks to Claudia, Helen and Diane for the bulk of our fabric...you gals really gave us the leg-up we needed! 125 pillowcases in 3 hours - I just like saying that!
Last night, after a DAY of ravioli making (more on that later), I had these beautiful young women come to my kitchen to make pasta...homemade pasta - nothing like it! They had a great time and all of them left with enough pasta to make dinner for their families tonight. Are they cute or what?! My kitchen has a fine dusting of flour, looks like a cocaine-bust gone bad, I've seen enough CSI episodes to know what I'm talking about here! But it was all worth it - during the day 200 raviolis were made and probably 2,000 strands of linguini at night! When I looked in the mirror late last night I was shocked to see how I had aged...then realized I had streaks of flour and not new gray hair...as if, I have enough chemicals on my head to light Vegas for a week!
My parent's kitchen - I just realized I've never shown you before and you must see it - they had it redone last year and it turned out so great! It's just the cutest kitchen ever and so fun to work in! Mom will not be amused that I've posted these as there are a few things out of place - my doing - but just take a minute to look at all of her fun things - I love being at my folks' house - and love being in the kitchen with them. They taught me everything I know and I'm so grateful! (If only they'd taught me everything I don't know!)
There - that was my week...exhausting but oh so fun!
Okay, that's it...except for one last little tidbit of news...
After 11 years of talking about it...11 years of making plans, only to be dashed because something got in the way, 11 years of wishing and hoping and dreaming...This is the YEAR!!
WE'RE GOING TO ITALY!!!! Well, I won't actually believe it until we set foot on Roman soil, but the tickets are purchased and the bags are being packed!! Gelato! In Italy! Here we come!
Do me a favor, if you've been, send me your list of TOP 5 things that I must see/do! I don't plan to sleep while I'm there - only going to eat and tour - so I'm SURE I'll have time to do whatever you suggest! Ciao!
